An attorney for Michael Schiavo said he is authorized to remove the life support for his wife, Terri, as soon as the 2nd District Court of Appeal issues an order that finalizes its last ruling against his in-laws in their seven-year legal battle to keep their daughter alive.

On Monday, the Lakeland court said it would release the order, known as a mandate, at 1 p.m. today.

Exactly what the order will say could prove critical. But Michael Schiavo's attorney was confident it would be a perfunctory ruling sending the case back to the trial judge, who has repeatedly ruled that Terri Schiavo would reject the artificial life support that has kept her alive for 15 years.

"I will not comment on the mechanism, but it's fair to say the tube will come out as soon as the mandate is issued," Felos said Monday.

It will not happen, however, without a fight from Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler. Their attorney adamantly disagrees that Michael Schiavo can have his wife's artificial feedings discontinued without another court order. He vowed to seek contempt charges if that is done.

David Gibbs made that promise Monday after Felos rejected what Gibbs described as his "personal and polite plea" to wait at least a day to withdraw the tube. Gibbs also filed an emergency request asking Pinellas Circuit Judge George Greer to bar the tube's removal until the Schindlers resolve several long-standing issues they have pending in his courtroom.

For instance, Gibbs said, the Schindlers asked the judge to remove their son-in-law as their daughter's guardian in 2002, but the judge has yet to rule on the motion.

Greer's secretary said the judge would not consider the emergency motion until he reviews the mandate. Presumably, if the appellate court doesn't offer further instructions, he could rule on the motion then or wait until a hearing the Schindlers have scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

If he waits, it's possible the tube may already have been withdrawn. But Gibbs said a one-day hiatus would not harm Terri Schiavo.

"Terri is very strong. She has a will to live," Gibbs said at a news conference in front of the Clearwater courthouse. "Physically, Terri will withstand that, but I think that it would be unbelievably cruel for the guardian to do that. What kind of human being would say, `I'm going to just jerk your food away for 24 hours' when there's other legal issues pending?"

Felos countered that the only cruelty was the delay in carrying out the wishes of Terri Schiavo, whose feeding tube was removed for six days in October 2003 before the Legislature and Gov. Jeb Bush intervened to have it reinserted.

"This is a woman who said, `No tube for me,' yet she's being force-fed," Felos said. "That is cruel and inhumane."

Now 41, Terri Schiavo has been in what the courts have ruled is a persistent vegetative state since she collapsed in her Clearwater apartment 15 years ago, enduring precious minutes without oxygen.

She never wrote down her wishes in the event she should become incapacitated. But her husband, who became a nurse to care for his wife, said she made it clear that she never wanted to be kept alive artificially.

Her parents contend their son-in-law didn't mention his wife's wishes until he won more than $1 million in a medical malpractice case. The money is now all but gone, but he, as her beneficiary, had a conflict of interest in seeking her demise, the parents say.

They also reject court rulings that their daughter is consigned to a permanently unconscious state, with no hope of recovering cognition or awareness. They insist that the groans, smiles and other movements she makes are attempts to communicate, and with proper rehabilitation she would recover some brain function.

"If you saw her and you saw her respond and react, you'd go insane," Bob Schindler said. "This is nothing more than cold-blooded murder."

But after reviewing reams of medical evidence and testimony, Greer and the appeals court have repeatedly agreed with Michael Schiavo that her parents are living on false hope. They ruled that Terri Schiavo's cerebral cortex has all but disappeared and her parents are mistaking involuntary movements as a sign of awareness.

"CT scans just don't lie. When you look at that picture, you see a big black hole filled with water where her brain used to be," Felos said.

Maya Bell can be reached at mbell@orlandosentinel.com or 305-810-5003.